Education Notes

Punjab Education officers suspended Chandigarh, may 30. Harjot Singh Bains, the state’s school education minister, ordered the suspension of three officials of his ministry on charges of dereliction of duty. During a surprise inspection of the Government Primary School, Lambayan in SAS Nagar district, class V students brought to the minister’s attention that they were yet to receive their English textbooks. Investigation revealed that 3,500 textbooks had not been printed due to the negligence of ministry officials. As a result, 2,500 students were deprived of English textbooks. Apart from suspension orders issued against the three officials, the minister also ordered the district education officer and block education officer to be issued show-cause notices. Uttar Pradesh Prisoners good show Lucknow, may 7. Ninety-five percent of prisoners in Uttar Pradesh’s jails who wrote the class X state board examination passed, while the class XII success rate was over 70 percent. “Fifty-seven of the 60 inmates who wrote the class X examination averaged 82.40 percent, a first-division score. Of the 64 inmates who wrote the class XII board examination, 45 passed with 13 percent scoring first-division marks,” a prison department official said at a press conference. “Inmates who study in the prisons are given light physical work and during the board examinations, they are exempted from all manual work. Books and study materials are made available to them in jail. Moreover, most jails have libraries from where they can access study materials,” he added. Maharashtra Biodiversity study scholarships Mumbai, may 3. The state cabinet recently approved a proposal to provide scholarships to 75 students over a period of three years for conducting research in mangroves and marine biodiversity in top-ranked universities abroad, said an official statement issued by the Chief Minister’s Office. The outlay for the scholarships is estimated at Rs.31.50 crore. Every year, 25 students will be given scholarships by the forest department’s Mangrove and Marine Biodiversity Conservation Foundation. These scholarships will be awarded to students admitted into higher educational institutions abroad ranked within the Top 150 in the latest annual World University Rankings league tables of the London-based Times Higher Education (THE) or Quacquarelli Symonds (QS). Thirty percent of these scholarships will be awarded to women students. Madhya Pradesh Girl child education drive Bhopal, may 2. Observing Ladli Laxmi Utsav (festival of the girl child), chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan announced his government’s decision to pay the tuition fees of meritorious girl students from MP admitted into IITs, engineering, law, and medical colleges. “Under the Ladli Laxmi Yojana, fees for engineering, law, IIT and medical colleges will not be paid by parents, but by Shivraj mama (uncle),” he said, addressing a press conference. Chouhan added that henceforth Ladli Lakshmi Utsav will be celebrated in every city and panchayat of Madhya Pradesh from May 9-15, during which various competitions, programmes and health check-ups will be organised. Himachal Pradesh Ineligible vice chancellors Shimla, may 20. The vice-chancellors of two private universities in the state have been found ineligible for the post after thorough…